From Bird to Bat
by The Ravenclaw
Summary: There must be a new Bat, the only question is: Who?


Tim Drake walked through The Wayne Manor, and into The Bat-Cave where Bruce said to meet him, he assumed it had something to do with who would be taking up the role of Batman. Bruce was 65 now, and Gotham had not seen a Batman in well over a decade. Well, people had tried to claim themselves as Batman, most of them died. Tim saw Damian Wayne, son of Bruce and current Robin sitting up high in the cave, he also saw Dick Grayson, first Robin, now Nightwing, he looked as though he was preparing for a fight, which was strange. And then, next to him he saw...

"Hood!?" Tim exclaimed incredulously, at the sight of former Robin, now murdering vigilante, Red Hood.

"Sup, Red?" Jason Todd, asked, putting his helmet on.

Tim shook his head. "Why are you here?" He asked Jason, aggressively.

Jason chuckled. "Well, you see my mommy met my daddy and then they-"

Tim cut him off. "Why. Are. You. Here? In the Bat-Cave?" He corrected himself.

"Because I want him to be." Came the voice of an old and familiar voice behind him, he turned and saw Bruce. It was amazing how even as an old man he could still sneak up on Tim. "Dick, fill him in, I'm going to go set it up." Bruce walked towards the computer.

Dick nodded and walked up to Tim. "Bruce is giving us three challenges, each time one of us loses, we get disqualified."

Tim nodded. "And... Who's us?"

"You, Me, Damian and Jason." Dick told Tim. "Anything else?"

Tim thought for a moment. "Why is he giving us these challenges?" He knew the answer already, but he didn't want to be right.

Dick chuckled. "You know the answer, whoever wins becomes Batman."

Tim sighed and went to sit down, he waited for Bruce to call them.

OoOoO

An hour later Tim, Dick, Damian and Jason stepped inside the simulator.

It looked like some kind or Roman arena, with marble walls in a circular formation. Torches lined the walls. There were rows of stands, where a single person sat, from a distance it was hard to see who it was but he was pretty sure that Bruce sat in the stands, looking down upon the four 'gladiators' who were behind their gates. Tim looked at the floor outside, which was made out of stone.

Bruce began talking. "This is your first challenge!" His voice was commanding and loud, it was very surprising considering his age. It also echoed of the hollow walls. "You will fight, untill your opponent is knocked out. You must not murder!" Tim saw Jason groan at this. "Begin!"

The gates creaked open, and he saw Jason immediately start attacking Dick, while Damian ran for him. Tim brought out his collapsible Bo Staff and struck Damian in the side with it, Damian winced in pain. "I'm sorry Da-." Tim began, but was kicked in the face by the very person he was trying to apologise to.

OoOoO

The battle between the four went on for 30 minutes with no one going down. Tim was trying his best not to hurt Damian, he hated this, it was like fighting his brothers. Then, finally Dick threw knockout gas at Jason, who knocked it to the side. It landed next to Damian, Tim moved out of the way of the gas but Damian wasn't quick enough. Jason saw this and smirked. "Well, Tim, you're welcome, I secured you a place."

Tim ran at Jason who smirked and pulled out a stunning pistol, Tim tried to dodge but was to late, he could see everything that was going on but couldn't move a muscle. He saw Jason and Dick, -who had run out of tricks- exchanging blows, Jason got a lucky shot on Dick, who went flying and hit his head on the wall, knocking himself out.

Bruce stood up. "Jason Todd wins, Damian Wayne, disqualified."

OoOoO

Tim awoke hours later in the living room of the manor, he was laying on the couch, on the other couch was Dick. Siting on the chair was Damian, who was watching cartoons. "Are you okay?" Tim asked him, painfully sitting up.

Damian gave him an angry look. "No, I'm pissed. Now I'll never get to be Batman." And with that, Damian stormed off.

Tim heard laughing and turned to see Jason. Tim frowned. "Don't laugh at him."

Jason laughed harder still. "He should have known what he was going up against, I'll be honest- and I wouldn't be saying this if Wings over there wasn't KOed- he was a formidable opponent. I've got money saying that you'll lose the next challenge, though."

Tim turned away, not in anger, not in sadness, but in realisation. He probably was going to lose, but he couldn't let Jason become Batman. He wouldn't. Bruce walked in at that moment and Dick woke up, almost in perfect sync. "Next challenge will be tomorrow, meet me on the south buildings of Gotham."


End file.
